


The 800-Hour Bus Ride of Despair, or alternatively, Despair Bus

by Yeetlejuice



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Desert Bus, Other, Something I shouldn't have stayed up til 4 am writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23759830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeetlejuice/pseuds/Yeetlejuice
Summary: This is probably the stupidest fanfic I've ever written, and the worst part is that I put some semblance of effort into it.Simply put, this is a fanfic where Junko Enoshima makes Chiaki Nanami fall into despair by forcing her to play 100 rounds of Desert Bus.I stayed up for four hours later than I usually do at night just to write this. I don't know why I decided to spend my time doing this, but I did, so... enjoy, I guess? Also, if any of this seems off, then blame it on the fact that I was a bit sleep-deprived when writing the latter half. It's not like it matters much, though, since this fanfic is just meant to be some silly joke idea taken farther than it should be.(Also I used this to experiment with using linebreaks for emphasis)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The 800-Hour Bus Ride of Despair, or alternatively, Despair Bus

"...So I just have to get a high score of 100 on this game...?"

"Yep! I wanna see the Ultimate Gamer show what she's made of!"

"...Seems easy enough... I'm sure it'll be a breeze."

"Ooh, that's the hopeful spirit I wanna see! Go for it, girl!"

_Yeah, keep that hopeful spirit... let it all become despair..._

The time was... indeterminable. The room didn't have clocks, and all of its windows were boarded up. Any sort of lights or lamps present were smashed out, shattered, utterly destroyed in a way calculated perfectly so that repair of them would be impossible. In the room itself was two girls; one with hair in twintails, wearing a fashionable outfit featuring a jacket, a skirt, and a blouse, and the other with hair above her shoulders that spreads out at the bottom, wearing a skirt and hoodie whose hood resembled some cartoonish creature. The girl with the hoodie could have been easily recognizable to any of the Main Course students (and a certain Reserve Course student) as Class 77's Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer, who was usually lethargic and only had eyes for games, but got along surprisingly well with the rest of the class. As for the twintailed girl... any person in the entire region of Japan would have recognized her as the fashion sensation, Class 78's Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista. 

Chiaki herself was sitting at a chair in a desk on one end of the room. On the desk was a computer, its screen illuminating the otherwise pitch-black room, and showing the title screen to a game simply called 'Desert Bus'. Her hands were at the keyboard of the computer, already itching to play. As for Junko, she was standing behind the chair, watching over the other girl.

"Usually, I get drinks or snacks when I play a game, especially long ones. This one seems pretty long, from what I can guess..."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Nanami! Here, let me take care of that."

Junko walked outside of the room, and in the process opened the door, letting a dim light from the room beyond try its best to creep in, the result of said creeping barely sufficing as a success. It illuminated the room Chiaki was in slightly more, and she got a better look around. She came into this room blindfolded, but didn't question it ~~(even though, by all means, she should've)~~ , thinking this encounter was innocent enough, so she didn't get a good look until now. The gamer seemed to be in a rather spacious bedroom. The door to it was left open, too, so she got a look at what lied beyond it for a short time. It looked like she was in some person's house... but her view was soon obscured by the approaching Junko, carrying a few bottles of different drinks, and some bags of snacks. After entering the room, she shut the door, and set the snacks on the desk.

"Alright, I've got your refreshments! Now, do your best!"

Chiaki nodded, and started playing, determined.

\-----

7 hours and 50 minutes had passed. 

Chiaki was already bored. So bored. The same desert stretch went on and on and on... the only relief from the boredom she got was seeing some fly splat on the windowsill. Never had she been so glad to see a creature meet its demise. Junko had watched, her face stuck in a bored expression that hid her true excitement and eagerness.

Ten more minutes passed, and...

"I did it, Enoshima. I... I got to the end..."

"Ooh, great job! Now, let's see what score you racked up!"

The screen transitioned to a leaderboard, and then...

1 point was awarded. An option to go again and earn another point was given.

"Oh... I must not have done a good job..."

The Ultimate Gamer seemed to give up, her chin dipping slightly, but then...

"Guess I can try harder next run. I do need a break though..."

"Got it!"

Junko opened the door, letting Chiaki take a break to go and use the bathroom, along with generally letting her take a breather. After a short five minutes, Chiaki returned.

"Alright, let's do this!"

Junko inwardly cackled. Seeing all that determination, all that _hope_ , irritated every ounce of her being, but her one solace was that, sooner or later, it would all turn into delectable, wonderful, pitch-black despair. 

\----- 

...The points on the scoreboard rolled up from 19 to 20.

Chiaki had sat still. Her eyes looked from her hands, then at the keyboard, then to the screen, and back at her hands. For the first 10 rounds, she did a usual small routine after completing it, fulfilling her needs and giving herself enough respite within the span of five minutes. At some point, she went over five minutes, only for Junko to gradually slip more and more threats into her speech, intimidating her into continuing the game. During the tenth break period, she tried to sneak out, only to find that the door to exit the building was barred up, and all the other doors were locked.

After the tenth round, she just sat still during the break periods. Maybe every three or four, she'd get up and take a break, but for most, she would just sit there, her gaze aimed at the desk in front of her, her mind somewhere else entirely. Somewhere unpleasant, somewhere dark. During the 17th break period, she asked Junko when she could leave.

Junko told her she'd let her go once the score reached 100.

She would have panicked in this situation, knowing that she was kidnapped and forced to play a terrible game, but some part of her told her to keep her cool, to stay determined, in hopes that she'd meet Junko's demands and be free if she stayed calm. 

_(At one break period, she wondered why she didn't question any of this at first.)_

\-----

The score reached 50.

For the past... 30 break periods, Chiaki had barely done anything. Now, she got up, and went through the routine she followed so long ago, but one could tell it was out of sheer necessity. She knew she'd run herself into the ground if she went for too long without taking care of herself.

During the past 30 runs, Junko occasionally talked with Chiaki, giving a discussion to help pass the time, to make sure Chiaki didn't get too bored as to give up right away. Most of her words seemed innocent enough, but she carefully crafted them in a certain way, sneakily trying to affect Chiaki's mood. In addition to talking, Junko's usual position changed. Instead of just standing behind the other girl, Junko moved so that her chin rested on top of the other girl's head, and she had her arms draped over the front of the other's body, as if loosely embracing the other. Mostly, this position was more comfortable, and besides, Chiaki either didn't notice it, ignored it, or didn't (have the heart to) bother getting Junko to move. It also came with the perk of being able to easily prick Chiaki with one of her long, painted nails, in the case that the gamer started to nod off, which did happen occasionally. 

Outwardly, Chiaki's face was blank. No sort of emotions or thoughts could be seen, giving no clue as to what was happening on the inside. But Junko's piercing, analytical eye showed something else. She could tell that her plan was working.

\-----

Class 77 was in a state of unrest. That state had been there for the past few weeks. During the start of every class, the teacher would be bombarded by the same set of questions.

"U-Um... e-excuse me, Yukizome? Have you, um, seen N-Nanami at all r-recently-"

"Hey, c'mon, quit fucking around and tell us about what the hell is going on with her, Yukizome!"

"I do wish to know where Nanami is! Her absence concerns me greatly! I've only been this worried about my own kingdom, before..."

All of those queries would be met with the simple, disappointing answer of "I don't know". After all, it was the only answer Chisa could give, for it was the truth. She had pried around on her own, and found that the Steering Commitee had knowledge of what was happening, but they refused to let her know any of it, stating they'll cover it up as some freak accident that took Chiaki out of school.

Oh, Hope's Peak and their cover-ups... maybe if they didn't have such an overreliance on them, then the school wouldn't have fallen.

\-----

80 points.

Chiaki kept playing. At this point, Junko was just rambling instead of trying to hold a conversation, but Chiaki let her go on and on and on. She was too focused on the game to care, too exhausted to care, too bored to care. All of her focus was on racking up points, trying to reach that accursed number. She hadn't even tried to ignore the words, letting the sound be processed by her ears and then moving on. 

To any, Junko's ramblings seemed to just go through one ear and out the other for Chiaki. But Junko's piercing, analytical eye showed something else. She saw when Chiaki shifted, she saw the subtle movements of Chiaki's face. She saw that some part of her ramblings, big or small, stuck in her mind.

At some point within the 81st run, Chiaki questioned why she was still here, why she was still doing this. She had spent days, weeks in here. The only sound being Junko's words, the only sight being the harsh light of the computer screen against the darkness of the room. She could feel the exhaustion on her mind and body, and would have passed out, would it be not for Junko poking at her with a nail every now and then to keep her awake. It was all so... boring. She told herself she was fighting to get out, to survive, to live on to see her classmates again. But a concerningly large part of her mind thought it wasn't worth this much pain and boredom. A part of her wanted to give up. At the end, she couldn't help but think; Why...?

\-----

85 points.

As soon as Chiaki got to the end, she passed out. Junko was too absorbed in some tangent to notice, until it was too late. No amount of poking would wake up the sleeping gamer. 

Junko decided to leave the game on the leaderboard screen. After all, one big dose of despair isn't as effective as several doses, sometimes. 

\-----

Chiaki had woken up, hoping.

She was hoping this was some sick nightmare, she was hoping that the things she heard weren't real, she was hoping that the time she was wasted wasn't even real in the first place. But all of those hopes were crushed.

"Hey, c'mon, perk up! Just 15 more points!"

"...right... 15... more..."

She took a small break, and then went at the game again. Somehow, she felt more tired upon waking up from the inadequate rest. The fact that this was all real emotionally wore her down more. 

\-----

The point counter was at 99, and she was halfway through the 100th run. 

Junko's ramblings felt less... random, but then Chiaki soon realized it was because this rambling had to do with all of her previous ramblings. Then, Chiaki realized that to come to that realization, she had to be actually listening, and realized she was actually listening to it. Some part of her mind wanted her to _**stop** , to ignore it and quit listening to those words, for surely they must have something sinister in them_, but that part was too tired to fight, and so it faded out. The rest of her mind was bored from having to play this dull game for so long. So much wasted time... hearing Junko's ramblings made things less boring, though, so she decided to listen. She was too tired to ignore it, anyways.

"...Don't you see it, now? Even if it's subtle... it still has an effect on people. Games might not have *real* violence, but there's still an effect on its player. The way I see it, all these effects are pretty negative if you ask me. Violent, rough games? Inspires a small spark of that violence within the player. It's subliminal. Easygoing, peaceful games? They just give people hope, but that hope's not good for anything but being crushed. It'll be destroyed once they stop playing the game and go back to the harsh reality that's real life. Bleakness hurts more when you experienced happiness right before it. It's purely because of that contrast. You sure can't see it at first, but... these games all plant seeds inside those who play it. Seeds of things like violence, anger, naivety, and sadness. Nothing good can come out of games, overall, so why have the hope that they can be good? It's useless... you get that, right?"

Something within Chiaki had been changing ever since this event had happened. If she was asked this at the start, she would have answered differently, but this wasn't the start anymore.

"...yes... I understand perfectly..."

\-----

Ten minutes left until that final point.

"Even worse, there's games like these, made to be cruel and harsh to players, to make them feel despair. This one's exhausting in a different way, but there's games with tragic stories and deaths and misery and catastrophe. All of that is written to instill despair in the player. You can't deny that."

Nine minutes left until that final point.

"So, you get it now, I bet. It's a long list of things, but... through subtle, subliminal details, video games are something truly harmful."

Eight minutes left until that final point.

"They just spread despair and misery and pain and violence... there's nothing good about them at all, you know?"

"...ha..."

Seven minutes left until that final point.

"Games are awful... so, the people who play them must be pretty bad, too, right?"

Those words hurt a bit. But something about the way it hurt felt... well, it certainly wasn't as boring as the last many, many hours. It pained Chiaki's heart to hear, but something about that felt... not so boring. It was something else. Finally, a change of pace.

Six minutes left until that final point.

"And that includes... you! Hell, your whole talent's about games! All you're good at is enjoying a kind of media that acts as a plague on our society!"

Five minutes left until that final point.

"If there weren't as many fanatics like you around the world, I bet video games wouldn't be around as much."

Four minutes left.

"You heard that right, you're part of the reason why this problematic thing's still around."

Three minutes.

"Hey, how's it feel to be such a big part of the issue? Does it feel awful?"

"...ha... haha..."

Two minutes.

"Does it make you feel guilty? For helping propagate this stain on the world?"

"...ahahaha..."

One minute.

_"Does it make you feel like the world is collapsing all around you, and you're there, unable to do anything about it and just waiting to fall with the wreckage? **Does it make you feel despair?"**_

Chiaki had finally reached the end. 99 points rolled up to 100.

"....haha... it does."

Junko walked over, in front of Chiaki, and with her hand, delicately brushed away a small strand of the gamer's hair, trying to get a better look at her face.

Chiaki's face had a very slight smile. A certain kind of smile that isn't so happy. Maybe it was the light playing tricks, but, her eyes seemed to have swirls in them, too. The girl let out a small laugh, one not so mirthful.

"I get it, now, Enoshima... video games are just something that spreads despair. Even if subtly, it's still but a small seed of despair that can grow into something else. And as someone who plays and shares video games... I'm someone who spreads despair, by extension. And that makes me feel hopeless, too. I can't help but spread despair. It's just my talent at this point. There's no hope for changing that, either. It's all hopelessness upon hopelessness upon hopelessness..."

Junko let out a giggle, before giving Chiaki a quick hug.

"Yay, I'm so glad you understand! I didn't expect that to work so well, but it did. Anyways, I should remove the bars from the door now, shouldn't I? Wouldn't want you to be gone for too long, now, would we?"

"I'm... fine with staying here. Ahaha..."

"Oh, this happens all the time... someone gets a taste of the good kind of despair, and then they start wanting more... well, think about it. Your class likes you a lot, right? You could take advantage of that and spread despair to your classmates. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"...I guess... it would, yeah..."

"Then, go on! Walk free! Live your life!"

"Thanks, Enoshima..."

While Junko was taking down the barricade, Chiaki entered house's bathroom, and looked at herself in the mirror. 

She looked like a mess, to say the least. Her eyes had bags under them, her hair was frizzy, and her clothes were all ruffled and messy. Her skin looked paler than normal, too. She looked like such a _hopeless wreck_ , and it was **_perfect_**.

The door was opened, and Chiaki walked out. It was currently night, and the sky was full of stars. 

Anybody could notice the clear-as-day difference between the Chiaki who entered and the Chiaki who left.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this all the way through. That's all.


End file.
